This invention relates generally to heat sinks for use with transistors and the like. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, this invention relates to a self-securing heat sink wherein the heat sink is attached to a transistor or the like by the force exerted of a resilient clip located on the heat sink.
The most commonly used material for constructing heat sinks is aluminum or an aluminum alloy. Such materials are generally considered to be malleable and have little resilience but do have excellent heat transfer characteristics. The aluminum materials can be easily formed so that the heat sinks can be manufactured by mass production techniques and are, generally speaking, relatively inexpensive.
For the most part, the transistors to which heat sinks are ordinarily attached have a hole extending through a metal tab thereon. The hole is utilized to mount the heat sink on the transistor with a threaded fastener. In mass producing circuits utilizing transistors with heat sinks attached, the insertion of a threaded fastener to attach the heat sink to the transistor is a substantially manual operation. The production rate is slowed considerably thereby and, of course, is much more expensive since this is a labor-intensive process. Also, the threaded fasteners themselves are relatively expensive when considered in the volume of fasteners utilized in mass production of circuits.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved heat sink which is self-securing on the transistor and thereby eliminates the necessity for attaching the heat sink to the transistor with a threaded fastener or the like.